Magnolia

Hello my friends, I hope this essay finds you well (please note that my enemies can get fucked), and thank you for joining me again. Last I left you I had just yelled at you about Eyes Wide Shut, where Tom Cruise: Movie Star was flipped on his head by director Stanley Kubrick. The film wasn't the box office success or critical darling many had expected it to be, but after being absent from the silver screen for three years since starring in Jerry Maguire, Tom Cruise: Movie Star knew he had to come back strong.

So that same year brought Magnolia, a three hour melodrama that features our boy in a supporting role in which he plays a Tony Robbins like personality named Frank TJ Mackey who teaches dumb white dudes how to get laid. His motto? "Respect the cock! Tame the Cunt!"

Enter, Tom Cruse: Actor.

Spoilers for Magnolia to follow.

Of course, this isn't the first time an audience has seen Tom Cruise: Actor (that distinction belongs to Born of the Fourth of July), but because I decided to start this series at Jerry Maguire (BECAUSE I DO WHAT I FUCKING WANT), it's the first time I'm talking about him.

Magnolia is the first movie in over 15 years where Cruise wasn't the star. He had big co-stars or directors, yes, but he was always the leading character. However,  Magnolia is a sprawling ensemble featuring monster performances from John C. Reilly, Julianne Moore, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Jason Robards, Melinda Dillon, Phillip Baker Hall, William H. Macy and Luis Guzman playing himself (!).

It's clear that Tom was impressed with the director Paul Thomas Anderson, who previously directed Boogie Nights two years prior. And the thing about Tom, well, Tom likes movies. (I like movies). And it makes sense that Tom wanted to share the spotlight and act his butt off, as a treat.

Ever since the Oprah incident, Tom seems terrified of losing his audience, risking life and limb to keep them entertained. But back then, Tom trusted his audience, he could risk playing an unlikable character because his audience trusted that he would at least deliver a quality product. And back then, the Cruise Quality promise was a guarantee.

Ok but really, Tom got a hell of a character with Frank Mackey. We first meet Frank in a commercial for his male seminar. Tom turns the charm up to 11 and then adds eight dollops of scum for good measure. Frank is a douchebag of the highest regard, catering to incels and whichever gross male idiot who'll listen. teaching these dolts how to manipulate women to get sex. It's disgusting. It's despicable. It's one of the best performances Tom Cruise has ever given.

Director Anderson gives us numerous moments with Frank with zero cuts, just Tom in character talking to this audience, talking to us. And even though he is selling filth, Cruise is captivating. Yes, Anderson is using Tom Cruise: Movie Star and flipping that on its head just like Kubrick, but Frank is a different beast. Frank is a predator, unlike his character in Eyes Wide Shut, William, who is a passive voyeur. Frank is very open about his apathy toward women and these long takes give us a real chance to hate Frank, which is exactly what Cruise and director Anderson want.

Most of Frank's section in the film is of Frank being interviewed by a journalist who unveils some shocking truths about Frank's life he was hoping to keep secret. This secret doesn't exactly make the way he acts OK all of a sudden, but it's clear that he has had a truly hard life, and Cruise takes such complexity and does a tight rope walk and delivers a rich and emotional performance, while also letting the character remain a complete asshole. At the end of the film, Frank has just found out that his father he hasn't seen since he was a teenager, is on his deathbed and his last wish is to see his long lost son. Frank, after much debate, goes. We finally think we are seeing a human underneath that sexist exterior. But then, as he arrives and speaks to his father's caregiver,  played by Phillip Seymour Hoffman, he is greeted by numerous dogs of various sizes. He looks right at Hoffman and says "If the dogs get anywhere near me I will fucking dropkick them." Like I said, asshole.

Frank is just such an interesting choice for Cruise. In 1996 Tom had Jerry Maguire and Mission: Impossible come out, both gigantic hits in all aspects, with Tom starring as the romantic lead and action hero, respectively. Then he disappears for 3 years and the next two movies he makes are Eyes Wide Shut and Magnolia where he stars as an orgy seeking doctor and a rapey motivational speaker.

That's a pretty serious flex.

Again, Cruise had been making interesting and sometimes challenging movies at the studio level for most of the 90s, so it's not a complete shock but still, those two movies are so vastly different from anything else he has ever done, it just blows my mind.

On a side note, it's incredibly hard to write about Magnolia and only talk about Tom Cruise. It's such an incredibly insane, emotional, hilarious movie. It had been quite a few years since my last viewing and I'll admit I did feel the length this time. The movie simply goes on just a bit too long to be able to sustain its grip. Having said that, it's still a minor gripe and it feels like a tiny miracle that it's a movie that exists and with that cast no less. John C. Reilly is so heartbreakingly pathetic as a deadbeat cop it's endearing. Quiz kid Donny Smith, played by William H. Macy, accidentally drives into a gas station and some guy comes running up to his window and yells "That's quiz kid Donnie Smith!" and it's one of the funniest fucking moments of any movie ever. And Melinda Dillion is devastating as a cocaine addicted child abuse survivor who is going on a first date with deadbeat Reilly. Her emotional bookend to the movie ensures the viewer leaves with a somewhat hopeful feeling after enduring an emotional roller coaster the previous three hours.  Magnolia is quite simply an amazing film. 

Magnolia came out at the end of 1999 during awards season and grossed $22 million at the domestic box office. It was never expected that the film would compete with Cruise's usual blockbusters, so the sum was respectable, not to mention the fact that it got 3 Oscar nominations, including one for Tom himself for Best Supporting Actor.

So as I've said, this isn't exactly a film by film breakdown of Tom Cruise's career. I started smack dab in the middle, and now I'm going to skip one, at least for the time being. But I would like to quickly talk about its place in Tom's career.

Tom followed up Magnolia with Mission: Impossible II in May of 2000. It seems crazy, but this was the first real introduction to Tom Cruise: Action Star. The first M:I movie is more of a spy thriller directed by Brian De Palma and the franchise only side stepped to full blown action with this entry directed by John Woo.

Ugh ok, look, at some point I'm going to have to do a whole thing on the entire Mission: Impossible franchise. How can I not? But I'd rather do those movies back to back, so for now I won't discuss the quality of the movie. I would, however, like to note that the movie was a massive success, grossing $215 million in the U.S. and over half a billion worldwide. Tom Cruise: Action Star put Tom back on top.

And then he made Vanilla Sky.

I LOVE Vanilla Sky though! And I'm stoked that that is the next movie I'll be revisiting here. So stay tuned, and please remember, I like movies.